Sheet feeding mechanism



24, 1957 L. x. GARFUNKEL 2,817,200

SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM.

Filed Dec. 22, 1954 s Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 24, 1957 L. x. GARFUNKEL SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 22, 1954 INVENTOR. LfiU/S X. GFIRFUNKEL FITTORNEYS Dec. 24, 1957 L. x. GARFUNKEL SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 22, 1954 INVENTOR. Lou/s X GHRFUNKEL.

FITTORNEYS SHEET FEEDING MECHANISM Louis X. Garfunkel, New York, N. Y., assignor of onehalf to Paul Weien, Marietta, Pa.

Application December 22, 1954, Serial No. 476,973

9 Claims. (Cl. 53-251) The invention rel-ates to a patty shaping machine which shapes a patty, moves it over a prescribed path and places a sheet on each patty. The invention also relates to the mechanism per se for placing a sheet on a patty. The machine is intended for making hamburger patties and placing a sheet, such as paper, on the patty before it is removed from the machine so that patties may be stacked one upon the other without the patties sticking to each other or merging together as a single mass. The sheet between stacked patties also aids in separating the patties as needed.

It is an object of the invention to construct a patty shaping machine which after formation of the patty places a sheet on the top of each patty so that the patties may be stacked Without sticking together.

Another object of the invention is to construct a sheet placing mechanism which may be used with a patty shaping machine of any construction which places a sheet upon each patty.

Another object of the invention is to construct a sheet placing mechanism which places a sheet upon a patty which is simple and inexpensive in construction.

Another object of the invention is to construct a sheet placing mechanism for a patty shaping machine which can be installed on an existing shaping machine.

Other objects of the invention will be more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the patty shaping machine with means for carrying the patty to a position where mechanism places a sheet on the top of each patty;

Figure 2 is a cross section of the patty shaping machine taken on line 22 of Figure 1 showing the mechanism for raising a patty out of a patty forming cavity and the mechanism which places a sheet on a patty;

Figure 3 is a side elevation of a portion of the shaping machine with the mechanism for placing a sheet on a patty with portions thereof in section as taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a detailed plan view of the mechanism for moving the sheet platform to and from a position over a patty position or patty chamber taken on line 4--4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view in reduced size through the patty shaping machine taken on line 55 of Figure l.

The patty shaping machine includes means or mechanism for shaping a patty from a mass of material and also includes a patty carrying means which moves each patty in a prescribed path after it is shaped. Any suitable means may be used for shaping a patty from a mass of material. For a hamburger patty making machine, the patty is of course made from ground meat. In the construction illustrated the patty carrying means is rotatable although the invention is suitable with other forms or directions of movement for such means.

The patty shaping means includes a frame upon d States Patent 0 "ice which is mounted a hopper 11 of circular form. At least one propeller rotates in the hopper and in the construction particularly illustrated there is a bottom propeller 12, a meat or material stop 13 and an upper propeller 14. The propellers are mounted on a shaft 15 for rotation in the hopper and have angularly disposed blades and their purpose as well as that of the material stop is to feed the patty material or ground meat through a hole 16 in the bottom of the hopper into a patty chamber 17 formed in a patty carrying means 18. A plurality of spaced chambers 17 are provided and the chambers shown are round although they may be any form. When each chamber passes underneath the edge of the hopper, the patty is fully formed. The patty shaping means therefore includes the hopper, the chambers in the patty carrying means, the propellers for pressing the patty material into each chamber and the edge of the hopper which scrapes off and forms the top surface of the patty. In the construction illustrated the patty carrying means or particularly the chambers therein also form part of the patty shaping means so that there is some overlapping of parts although this is not essential to the construction.

The propellers and the entire machine is driven from a gear 19 secured to the shaft 15 and a pinion 20 carried by a drive shaft 32. This shaft may be connected with a motor to supply the power to drive the machine.

The patty carrying means 18 preferably is a rotatable turntable or platform mounted for rotation on a shaft 21 so that the patties after being formed are carried along a prescribed path which with a rotatable carrying means is a circular path. The patty chambers then return to the hopper to be refilled with material. The turntable is one form of an endless patty carrying means. Means are provided to raise the patty out of each chamber as the patty carrying means rotates. This means includes a piston 22 for each chamber which forms the bottom of the patty chamber and is mounted in a gear 23 for vertical movement. The gear is secured to and rotates with the patty carrying means. A spring 24, surrounding a piston rod 25 extending downwardly from the piston, propels the piston rod and piston downwardly and presses the end of the piston rod against the surface of a two part cam 26, 26' the part 26 of which is secured to the frame such as by screws 27. The other part 26' is carried on a rod means 36 the end of which is threaded and receives a nut 33. Adjustment of the elevation of the cam part 26' and hence of the pistons is secured by turning the nut whereby the thickness of the patty may be adjusted as desired.

After each patty chamber has passed beyond the edge of the hopper, the ascending surface 31 of the cam 26 begins to raise the respective piston 22 in each chamber until the upper face 28 of the piston becomes level with or may be slightly above the upper face 29' of the patty carrying means. When each chamber approaches the entering edge of the hopper, the piston rod 25 engages the descending cam surface 30 whereupon the piston descends so that a chamber is provided for forming a second patty when it passes into the hopper.

The patty shaping means may be of any suitable construction that illustrated and described being illustrative of any mechanism for shaping a patty. The primary purpose of the patty shaping means is to form a patty at spaced intervals or positions with respect to any form of patty carrying means that particularly described being a rotary patty carrying means which is illustrative of any means upon which a patty may be placed or positioned at spaced intervals and moved therewith.

If a series of patties are stacked on top of each other,

the gelatinous material of the patties tends to stick the patties together and they are not readily separated when ready to be used. Also the material of the stacked contacting patties tends to merge to form a unitary column.

In order to enable patties to be easily separated, the patty shaping machine places a sheet of material on the top of each patty so that when patties are stacked the sheet will enable them to be easily separated. Any kind of sheet may be used and paper probably is the most convenient and cheapest sheet for separating stacked patties.

Mechanism is provided to place a sheet on each patty at each position as it is being carried by the patty carrying means 18. This mechanism includes a sheet platform 34 upon which a stack of sheets S is adapted to be carried. The sheet platform carries sheet retaining means that shown being at least one retaining pin 35 projecting upwardly therefrom and each pin is received in a hole in the stack of sheets. The sheet retaining means shown is a pair of spaced pins. The sheets are provided with a slot T between the hole in the sheet and the edge so that each top sheet may be readily removed laterally from the stack of sheets, the pins passing through the slots T. The sheet mechanism includes a sheet platform and a sheet removing means for removing a sheet from the platform. The sheet removing means is movable towards and from the sheet platform to engage the top sheet thereon and one of these parts is movable to and from a position over a patty position on the patty carrying means.

In the construction shown the sheet platform 34 is moved to and from a position over a patty which in the chambered construction illustrated is a position over a chamber 17 in the patty carrying means 18. The movement is preferably a pivotal movement, as particularly illustrated, although this form of movement is not essential. The platform therefore, is carried by a pivot means 37 which is mounted for pivotal movement in a bracket 38. The bracket is secured in any manner to the frame such as by a plate 41 and screws 39. The sheet platform may be fixed to the pivot means 37 in any way such as by a key 40 so that it pivots or oscillates therewith. The end of the pivot means may be threaded to receive nuts 42 which engage opposite sides of and secure the sheet platform thereto and also enables the position or height of the platform above the patty carrying means to be adjusted.

Operating means are provided to move the sheet platform in timed sequence so that the platform moves to and from a position over a patty chamber and hence over a patty position or patty as the patty moves with the patty carrying means. The means particularly illustrated pivots or oscillates the sheet platform and includes a lever 43 which is fixed to the pivot means 37 such as by a key 44. A connecting link 4-5 is connected with the lever by means of a pivot screw 46. The other end of the connecting link is secured by means of a pivot screw 47 to a disk 48 mounted for rotation on a shaft 50 which is secured to a post 51. The disk may be a pinion which meshes with the gear 23. The gear ratio of the pinion is such that the sheet platform moves to and from a position over each patty position or chamber as it passes, at which position a sheet is removed from the sheet platform.

As the pinion rotates, the connecting link 45 oscillates the lever 43 and hence oscillates the pivot means and the sheet platform to and from a position over a patty or a patty chamber on the patty carrying means. The screw 47 is so located on the disk or pinion that when the sheet platform is over a patty or patty position, the screw 47 is moving in a tangential region with respect to the position of the screw 46. This means that the gear can move substantially through an angle of roughly with the sheet platform essentially stationary over the patty position on the patty carrying means. As the gear or disk continues to rotate, the connecting link then oscillates the lever 43 to swing the sheet platform to and from a position over a patty or patty position on the patty carrying means. The timing of the movement of the sheet platform with respect to the patty carrying means may be adjusted in several ways, the simplest of course being to unscrew a holding screw 49, remove the pinion and shift it one or more teeth on the driving gear The mechanism for placing a sheet on a patty includes means which engages the sheet platform or particularly the top sheet of a stack of sheets on the platform. When the sheet platform is momentarily stationary over a patty position or sheet removing position this means engages the top sheet and frictionally holds the same so that when the sheet platform moves away to retracted position, the top sheet is removed from the stack of sheets and is pressed down onto the top of the patty therebeneath. The means particularly illustrated includes a pad 52 such as of rubber-like material so that it has good frictional characteristics which pad may be held by a cap 53. The pad and cap are movable so that the pad moves to and from contact with the sheet platform or the stack of. sheets thereon when the platform is located and momentarily stationary over a pad or sheet removing position. This movement of the pad and cap is upward or vertical. Preferably the cap is carried on the end of an arm 54 by a pivot pin 55 so that the pad may adjust itself to a flat position on the top sheet of the stack of sheets S. The arm is mounted upon a horizontal pivot 56 carried by a post 57 which is suitably secured to the bracket 38 such as a screw 58. The pivoted arm gives the pad and cap freedom for upward and downward movement in a vertical plane with the pad engaging approximately at the center of the stack of sheets on the sheet platform. Gravity or the weight of the sheet removing means moves it downwardly. The entire arm 54 may be swung out of the way in a vertical position as shown in dot dash lines in Figure 2.

Means are provided to move the sheet removing means or pad 52 upwardly. The construction shown includes a push pin 62 which is movable vertically through the pivot means 37 with the upper end of the push pin engaging the arm 54. The push pin 62 is propelled vertically by any form of mechanism that illustrated being a lever 63 mounted for pivotal movement on a pivot 64 which may be carried by a plate 65 which is secured to the bracket 38. A spring 66 is used to propel the lever 63 in a direction to draw the push pin 62 downwardly, the spring being around the pivot 64 with one end anchored to the plate such as by a pin and the other end engaging the lever. The lever 63 carries a cam roller 67 which engages a cam surface 68 on a cam disk 69. The disk is secured to the pinion 48 in any manner and rotates therewith; however, it is desirable that the disk be adjustably secured to the pinion so that the timing of the movement of the push pin and pad 52 may be adjusted. The adjusting means illustrated includes an arcuate slot 70 in the pinion in which is received a screw 71 which screw is threaded into the cam disk 69. The relative position of the cam therefore may be adjusted with respect to the pinion and in this way adjust the timing of the movement of the pad 52.

The operation of the sheet removing means will now be described. The pinion 48 is driven by the gear 23 which turns the patty carrying means and rotates the cam disk 69 therewith. Throughout the greater portion of the rotation of the cam disk 69, the roller 67 is on the lowermost portion of the cam surface 68. When the sheet platform is momentarily stationary over a patty position or patty chamber on the patty carrying means, the cam roller 67 reaches the cam depression 72 and the spring 66 propels the lever in a counterclockwise direction, as shown in Figure 2, so that the push pin 62 is moved downwardly whereupon the arm 54 falls by its own weight to bring the pad 52 into contact with the top sheet of the stack of sheets S on the sheet platform. The frictional engagement of the pad on the top sheet holds this sheet stationary so that when the sheet platform swings away from its position over a patty position on the patty carrying means, this top sheet S remains stationary and is withdrawn laterally from the stack of sheets as the stack and platform move away. The weight of the arm and the pad 52 carries the sheet S onto the top surface of the patty P. Upon continued rotation of the cam disk, the cam roller 67 reaches the end of the cam depression 72 which propels the roller downwardly which in turn swings the lever 63 to move the push pin 62 vertically and the upper end thereof engages the arm 54 to raise the arm 54 and pad 52 above the level of the paper stack so that upon return movement of the sheet platform over the next patty position it may move underneath the pad 52 for removal of a second sheet from the sheet stack onto the next patty.

After a sheet has been placed on a patty, the patty with the sheet thereon is removed from the patty carrying means before the hopper is reached either by hand or by mechanism for this purpose.

This invention is presented to fill a need for improvements in a patty shaping machine with sheet applying mechanism and the mechanism. It is understood that various modifications in structure, as well as changes in mode of operation, assembly, and manner of use, may and often do occur to those skilled in the art, especially after benefiting from the teachings of an invention. Hence, it will be understood that this disclosure is illustrative of preferred means of embodying the invention in useful form by explaining the construction, operation and advantages thereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine having a patty carrying means comprising a sheet platform, means carried by the sheet platform to retain a plurality of sheets thereon in overlying relation, pivot means mounting the sheet platform for pivotal movement, operating means connected with the sheet platform to pivot the same about the distance of a sheet to and from a sheet removing position over a patty at a patty position on the patty carrying means, sheet removing means, pivot means mounting the sheet removing means having a friction pad for movement in a vertical plane to and from engagement of the platform when the latter is over a patty position, and operating means connected with the sheet removing means to move the same in timed sequence with the sheet platform to and from engagement with a sheet on the platform.

2. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine having a patty carrying means comprising a sheet platform, means carried by the sheet platform to retain a plurality of sheets thereon in overlying relation, pivot means mounting the sheet platform for pivotal movement, operating means connected with the sheet platform to pivot the same about the distance of a sheet to and from a sheet removing position over a patty at each patty position on a patty carrying means including a rotatable disk connected with the patty carrying means and a link connected between the disk and the sheet platform to pivot the latter, sheet removing means having a friction pad located for engagement of a sheet on the sheet platform when the latter is over a patty at sheet removing position, pivotal means mounting the sheet removing means for movement in a vertical plane, and operating means connected with the sheet removing means to move the same in timed sequence with the sheet platform to and from engagement with a sheet on the platform when the latter is over a patty and sheet removing position.

3. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine having a patty carrying means comprising a sheet platform, pivot means mounting the sheet platform for pivotal movement, operating means connected with the sheet platform to pivot the same to and from a sheet removing position over a patty at each patty position on a patty carrying means, sheet removing means located for engagement of a sheet on the sheet platform when the latter is at the sheet removing position over a patty, pivotal means mounting the sheet removing means for movement in a vertical plane, and means connected with the sheet removing means to move the same to and from engagement with a sheet on the sheet platform when the latter is at sheet removing position over a patty including a push pin engaging the sheet removing means and holding the same in elevated position, and a cam operatively connected with the patty carrying means and the push pin to lower the push pin to bring the sheet removing means into contact with a sheet on the sheet platform and to raise the push pin and sheet removing means.

4. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine as in claim 3 in which the pivot means for the sheet platform is hollow, and the push pin extends through the hollow pivot means.

5. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine having a patty carrying means comprising a sheet platform, pivot means mounting the sheet platform for pivotal movement, operating means connected with the sheet platform to pivot the same to and from a position over a patty at each patty position on the patty carrying means including a rotatable disk adapted to be connected with the patty carrying means and a link connected between the disk and the sheet platform to pivot the latter, sheet removing means located for engagement of a sheet on the sheet platform when the latter is at sheet removing position over a patty, pivotal means mounting the sheet removing means for movement in a vertical plane, and means connected with the sheet removing means to move the same towards and from the sheet platform when the latter is over a patty in sheet removing position including a push pin engaging the sheet removing means and holding the same in elevated position and a cam adapted to be operatively connected with the patty carrying means and the push pin to lower the push pin to bring the sheet removing means into contact with a sheet on the sheet platform and to raise the push pin and sheet removing means.

6. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine as in claim 5 in which the pivot means for the sheet platform is hollow, and the push pin extends through the hollow pivot means.

7.v A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine as in claim 5 including means to adjust the cam relatively to the disk.

8. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine as in claim 5 including a gear means secured to the patty carrying means to move the same, the disk having gear teeth meshing with the gear means, and the cam being secured to the disk.

9. A sheet placing mechanism to place a sheet on a patty at each patty position of a patty shaping machine as in claim 5 including sheet retaining pins carried by the sheet platform.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,106,222 Johnson Aug. 4, 1914 1,784,335 Christophel Dec. 9, 1930 2,374,345 Gookin Apr. 24, 1945 2,634,458 Elsaesser Apr. 14, 1953 2,702,405 Garfunkel Feb. 22, 1955 2,706,830 Holly Apr. 26, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 833,866 France July 25, 1938 U S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION December 24, 195? v Patent No, 2,817,200

Louis X0 Garfunkel rtified that error appears in the printed specification d patent requiring correction and that the said Let ners ted below.

It Is hereby ce of the above numbere Patent should read as correc Column 4, line l6, for "pad" read patty (SEAL) Attest:

KARL Ho AXLINE Attesting Officer ROBERT C. WATSON Conmissioner of Patents 

